Following the meeting with Pope Leo XIV, President Milanović met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, who was accompanied by Msgr. Daniel Pacho, Undersecretary for the Multilateral Sector of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations.

„During the cordial discussions in the Secretariat of State the parties expressed their appreciation for the good existing bilateral relations, and discussed various topics of an international and regional nature, with particular attention to the region of the Western Balkans and to regional cooperation”, the Holy See Press Office reported.

Speaking to reporters, President Milanović said that he had extended a formal invitation to the Holy Father to visit Croatia, to which, he said, the Pope responded positively.

Regarding his meeting at the Secretariat of State, Milanović reported that they had discussed the position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The President reiterated Croatia’s position on the need to ensure the legitimate political representation of the constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina and stressed that this issue is “a European matter, not an American one.”

Asked by journalists about the possible canonization of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac, the President replied that this is an internal matter of the Catholic Church. “The concept of holiness is not something I can speak about; that is a matter for the Church,” Milanović said.

As part of his visit, the President also visited the Pontifical Croatian College of St Jerome, the oldest Croatian institution outside the homeland, which has been active for more than 500 years. There, he met with Croatian priests and students studying at Rome’s pontifical universities.